The Culmination of Advent
This December, members of the Juniper Formation Leadership Team are sharing daily reflections through the Daily Ripple app and Substack. Join us as we explore the Advent themes of hope, peace, love, joy, and Christmas (the Culmination of Advent).
This week’s reflections are written by Amanda Creek she/her), Juniper Formation’s Storyteller.
On the Edge
Isaiah 26:17
As when a pregnant woman nears the time to give birth, and writhes and cries out in her labor pains, so were we, YHWH, in your presence.
We’re in the “in-between,” as I like to call it.
The time between Christmas and New Year’s. This short week; a liminal space that doesn’t give us enough time to reflect on the year that’s passed. Time to process the good, and the bad.
We have gone through labor pains in this forward journey.
And that might be why we don’t process and reflect on what’s happened. Or, most likely, it’s because our culture dictates that we keep moving rapidly forward.
But right now we’re on the edge of a chasm. What’s happened in our lives exists behind us, and our future (our hopes, dreams, new adventures, etc.) exists before us.
But there’s a need to bridge the gap. To evaluate what we’ve gone through to be able to build the bridge between the here and now, the present moment where we currently exist, and the future that we dream.
How will we build toward the future we’re dreaming of? And where in your life are you feeling the stretch between what is and what could be?
Families of Divine Creation
Psalm 68:6a
God creates families for those who are alone, and leads captives to freedom.
If we’re currently at the edge of a chasm, and imagining the journey ahead, then we’re at a place where we need a bridge to move forward.
It is my hypothesis that bridge building is much easier and better when done with others. Especially if we don’t have the strength or vision in this current moment.
(Not to mention, the journey is often better with companions.)
Sometimes the people we come to know by circumstance or familial connection aren’t—and shouldn’t be—our bridge building companions.
This Scripture reminds me that God creates families for those who are alone. And divine creation is so much more imaginative than we could ever dream.
People who we connect with, who we choose, who have the tools and knowledge to build bridges of possibility, those are the folks we want with us.
Who are your bridge building companions? Where in your life are you creating community where isolation once existed?
The Wilderness
Psalm 68:7
O God, when you went forth before your people, when you marched through the wilderness
The journey of a new year can be filled with many joys. And it can be filled with many sorrows.
We’re moving forward with our bridge building buddies, and also with hope and peace and joy and love; all the things we’ve read about over the past four weeks of Advent.
It all leads to the point where we feel the pain and joy of our labor. But as we journey into a new year and the possibilities that it brings, there is one looming constant.
The wilderness. It’s there with us every move of the journey. Usually one turn away.
There will always be terrain that requires divine guidance. But we also have boots and coats and flashlights and smart companions who’ve traveled this way before.
But most importantly, as this Scripture states, there’s God, who journeys there before us.
What part of your path requires you to move forward in faith, despite not knowing what lies ahead? What tools and companions can you take with you on the journey?
Holiness in the Most Humble Spaces
Luke 2:7
“She gave birth to her firstborn, a son; she put him in a simple cloth wrapped like a receiving blanket, and laid him in a feeding trough for cattle, because there was no room for them at the inn.”
This is a wilderness moment for Mary.
Not only is she giving birth for the very first time, she’s also navigating this experience in the most humble of places.
I’m not sure which resources were available during childbirth at this time in history, but I’m sure Mary’s imagination didn’t lead her to a feeding trough.
That’s sometimes just how it goes. The journey rarely looks like what we’ve imagined.
But uncertainty and a difference in expectations and the actual outcome doesn’t mean that we should abandon our imagination.
Imagination is hope. Imagination brings life.
And even in this humble place, Mary had a sacred moment with the Divine.
How can you recognize holiness in the most humble spaces of your life?
The Culmination of Advent
Luke 2:9
“The angel of God appeared to them, and the glory of God shone around them; they were very much afraid.”
The juxtaposition of the wilderness, of this feeding trough moment against the angel’s holy appearance is shocking. Profoundly life altering.
It’s the culmination of Advent leading up to this single breathtaking moment. This moment changed the world.
As we look toward a new year, we know there will be labor pains. There will be wilderness moments.
But there is also possibility that comes with imagination, and our chosen family of bridge builders who help us—especially when we need a moment of pause in the journey—and Divine guidance helping us through rough terrain. There’s sacred moments in unexpected places, and disruption and surprise that transforms and alters us and the path we’re journeying.
New years, new chances, new moments of hardship, new possibilities, new opportunities.
Where are disruption and surprise shedding unexpected light in your life? Where is the Divine transforming your current wilderness? What are you carrying into the new year?
